This invention relates to a closure arrangement for a socket end, and particularly, but not exclusively, for a tubular socket providing a recessed mounting hole in an article, particularly a molded article. The invention also relates to a closure for a socket end.
It has long been the tradition to conceal mounting devices, such as screws, in articles assembled together by providing a recess for the screw head and then closing off the recess above the screw head. In cases where the recess comprises a tubular socket, this has been achieved with a piece of wooden dowelling or with a plastic closure.
Because of the greater convenience provided by plastic closures, these have been generally favored where they are aesthetically acceptable. This is particularly so in the case of molded plastic articles where color-matching of a closure with the molded article can be readily achieved by the molder.
Traditionally, such plastic closures have had a cap-like profile, providing a short spigot for insertion into the recess or socket above the screw head, for example, and a substantially flat or domed top to sit proud of the surface of the article. Such plastic closures still detract from a pleasing appearance being presented by the fixed article.
In the environment of the interior of motor vehicles, the avoidance of unnecessary surface roughness is desirable from a safety as well as aesthetic point of view. However, if removal of the closure is a requirement in order to gain access to the mounting device for the purpose of removing the article, then a closure having a top which fits the recess would present difficulty in permitting its efficient removal. Still further, in the environment of the interior of a motor vehicle, it is important that such closures are not easily displaced from the recesses by vibration or by simply being dragged out, by the passage of clothing, for example, passing over them.
While the provision of deeply recessed mounting holes, for example, mounting holes at the bottoms of sockets, permit the use of closures having a longer spigot to assist their retention, these present the problem that for sockets having an axis nonperpendicular to the plane of the surrounding surface of the article or to a tangent drawn at a point where the axis cuts a projection of said surface across the socket, they have generally required closures to be specifically designed. This is particularly so if the top of the closure is to be flush with that surface on fitting the spigot in the socket.